Champions League: Clear head, hot heart: BVB hopes for Lisbon effect

Borussia Dortmund has been hoping for the mood booster Champions League in his deepest crisis for years. The journey from the cold-wicked Dortmund winter to the pleasantly mild Lisbon should not only be good for the mind for BVB and its new coach Niko Kovac, but above all the turn. The only question is: how is that supposed to succeed?

A short -term effect of the change of coach has failed to materialize. “I see him very positively,” said sports director Sebastian Kehl at Dortmund Airport. Kovac is “very confident in dealing with the team and with the current topics. And I think that’s what we need now”.

The 1-2 defeat for the Kovac premiere against Stuttgart, however, does little courage. Against Portugal’s champion and league leader Sporting around superstorer Viktor Gyökeres, BVB can not allow itself to allow defense errors as against VfB in the playoff first leg for the round of 16 on Tuesday (9 p.m./Amazon Prime Video).

The task does not make the task easier that Kovac has to do without a regular player at short notice. Left -back Ramy Bensebaini fails with muscle hardening.

Key player for weeks in the form low

At the front, the defensively susceptible district club lacks determination in front of the gate and creativity in the offensive midfield – even though the players are actually there for it.

The control center around Julian Brandt, Marcel Sabitzer and Pascal Groß has been in the form of form for weeks. BVB is far too rare to adequately stage his most dangerous player Serhou Guirassy. Borussia’s efforts of attack often appear sluggish. Brandt in particular is increasingly criticized. Kehl does not take part in the public, instead the other players also took on a duty. “We need them with a clear head and hot heart,” he said.

Currently eleventh place in the Bundesliga is devastating for the Dortmund. The gap to fourth place, which is issued as a minimum goal, is already seven points. In the coming season, there is a risk time without a premier class for the first time since 2015/16. Financially that would be a difficult blow.

Big unrest around the team

What is striking is that Dortmund often weakens himself. BVB players flew off the square six times in this Bundesliga season (three red cards, three yellow-red cards). The team also seems unsettled.

A crazy wave of illness at the start of the year, the change of coach only from Nuri Sahin to interim coach Mike Tullberg and then to Kovac. In addition, quarrels on the management of the management, which led to the separation of squad planner Sven Mislintat: How great the influence of the individual factors on their own performance is ultimately know at most. .

Kehl expects “duel at eye level”

After all, with the “willingness to perform” and the “commitment” of his players, Kovac, who trained his team on Monday after his departure in an icy wind, was packed thickly in Dortmund, after the first game as a BVB coach.

Central defender Waldemar Anton, who unhappily hit his own goal against his ex-club, demanded that one had to play with the same intensity in Lisbon as against Stuttgart. “We have to look at ourselves, bring our game to the square and everything else comes on its own,” said the German international.

Sporting is a well -known, but of course by no means unbeatable opponents. “It will be a duel at eye level, but with the second leg at home we will pack it,” Kehl said after the draw. The really hard chunks like Manchester City, Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain avoided the Dortmund. If Borussia prevails, the Aston Villa or OSC Lille would wait in the round of 16. That would be good prospects in a normal BVB season.